A courtesy translation of President of the Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni’s letter to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV is provided below.
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Holy Father,
I offer my personal congratulations and those of the Italian Government on your election to the See of Peter.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, the esteemed Cardinals have found in you the leader of the universal Church. They have done so aware of the fact that the world is facing a “difficult and complex turning point in history”, as the Cardinal Dean reminded us in the homily he gave during the ‘pro eligendo Romano Pontifice’ Mass, marked by epochal challenges that bring our certainties into question and call for anyone in a position of responsibility to make courageous choices for the good of the peoples.
Italy has an indissoluble bond with the Vicar of Christ. It would not be possible to understand the identity, history and culture of our nation without what Saint John Paul II, in his historic address to the Italian Parliament, defined as its “life-blood”, its faith in Christ.
Our home is founded on the extraordinary synthesis between faith and reason. This synthesis has enabled the Italian and European civilisation to conceive of a people-centred world in which life is sacred, men are free and of equal dignity, and the State and the Church are separate but respect each other, and grow together. A civilisation that respects the identities of others, without, however, denying its own, and that builds peace where others sow death and destruction.
The peace the world so desperately needs and which you invoked several times from the Loggia of Blessings, recalling the relentless and tireless work carried out by the late Pope Francis.
Italians will look to you as a guide and point of reference, recognising in the Pope and in the Church that spiritual and moral authority coming from the inexhaustible message of love, charity and hope, which flows from the Word of God.
With filial affection,
Giorgia Meloni
[Courtesy translation]